RICHMOND — More than 140 years after Civil War cannons fell silent, two museums offer different views of the war between the states. The century-old Museum of the Confederacy presents a more single-minded approach. Red, white and blue battle flags from different Confederate troops hang from the ceiling. Three levels of exhibits feature bullet-riddled uniforms, blood-spattered letters from dying soldiers and maps that generals once used to lead their men. The downtown Richmond museum also bills itself as home to the world’s largest collection of Confederate artifacts.
At the upstart American Civil War Center, between the James River and downtown Richmond, visitors will find a variety of old shackles that were once chained to slaves and musty uniforms amid modern touches. Four television displays offer presentations throughout the museum, posing thinking points while introducing perspectives from the Union, the Confederacy and blacks.
S. Waite Rawls III, president of the Museum of the Confederacy, offers no apologies for the approach, which he says inspires debate.
“Because of its beginnings, it’s completely devoted to the Confederacy,” he said. “Now, as a research facility and the programs that we give, it’s not a Confederate memorial — and let’s wave the Confederate flag and fight the war all over again.”
Founders of the American Civil War Center are stressing a broader, less Confederate-centric approach by exploring a range of people affected by the war.
“This is not just another Civil War museum,” said Alexander Wise, consultant to the museum. The story of how the war changed lives goes beyond the formula of guns, saddles and battles, he said.
“It’s about the people and the ideas that motivated them,” he said.
With its vast collection and exhibits, the Museum of the Confederacy also tells a story.
Calvin Holloway came from Raleigh, N.C., recently to visit the museum and thought it presented a great learning opportunity for his children. He said most people have focused on slavery as the primary cause of the war, but he thinks economic forces also were important.
“The South was getting a lot of push from the Northern industry,” he said.
Portraits and slave-auction signs help explain how land, geography and slavery played a role in the Confederacy and eventually split Virginia into two states: West Virginia and Virginia.
The museum stands near the collection’s original home, the White House of the Confederacy. Visitors can see how Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy’s president, and his family lived. However, that feature may be fleeting because museum officials are looking to relocate and expand, Mr. Rawls said.
Built in Tredegar Iron Work, a Civil War-era artillery factory, the American Civil War Center begins a wall-size timeline with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, builds to the Civil War and culminates in reunification of the United States.
Many visitors just wander in after business trips but typically do not plan a trip to either museum. Declining attendance at the museums follows a national trend.
Annual visitation to the Museum of the Confederacy has decreased from 92,000 to 51,500 since the early 1990s, partially the result of Virginia Commonwealth University’s sprawling medical college expanding around it, Mr. Rawls said.
The museum plans to relocate for more space and easier accessibility, even if that means moving outside Richmond. Officials are not making their suitors known publicly, though Lexington, Va., has been mentioned.
The American Civil War Center isn’t close to its projected 60,000 annual visitors nine months into its opening, and officials would not say how many visitors had come so far.
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